Despite being born and raised in the north east of England, Mark's love of jazz and big bands led him away from the 'conventional' brass band route and from an early age began performing in local jazz ensembles, nurturing a passion for lead trumpet.

He went on to study Jazz at Leeds College of Music, and this quickly presented opportunities to share the stage with names such as Rob McConnell, Phil Woods, Georgie Fame, Julian Joseph and Derek Watkins. Mark played lead trumpet in the college big bands and also made several appearances with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra around this time.

Following college, he spent a few years working in the theatres of some of the world's largest cruise ships for Royal Caribbean and Princess Cruises before returning to England and freelancing in theatres and venues around the UK. During this freelance period he performed and recorded with the likes of Liam Fender, John Miles and Sting.

After recording trumpet on Sam Fender's second No.1 album '17 Going Under' (2021), Mark became a full time member of the band and immediately embarked on a sell out UK and European tour. Since then, he has performed in venues all around the world including Glastonbury's Pyramid stage, Australia, supporting Bruce Springsteen in Italy, supporting The Rolling Stones and The Killers, headlined festivals such as Trnsmt, Boardmasters and Reading & Leeds, and headline shows at Finsbury Park and St James Park (home of the Toon Army!).

Mark features on Sam Fender's third album 'People Watching' (2025) - recorded largely at the iconic Boulevard Recording studio in Hollywood and produced by Adam Granduciel (War on Drugs). In addition to performing at the Brits 2025 (and winning an award) tours of the UK, Europe and America are underway and several Stadium shows are already sold out for London and Newcastle this summer. Festival headline slots at the likes of Radio 1 Big Weekend, British Grand Prix at Silverstone, Rock Werchter (Belgium) and Down The Rabbit Hole (Netherlands) are among many of the reasons that this new era should be a really special one :)